Stand by Me was a campaign run by the NSW Disability Advocacy Alliance that empower people with a disability to have a voice.

In a powerful campaign, 20 peer consumer groups came together to fight cuts of $13 million a year in funding for advocacy groups when the NSW state government transferred its disability services spending to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in July…… and won! 

You could almost hear the collective sigh of relief across the state when we woke to the news that our disability representative organisations and independent advocacy and information services will be able to continue to operate thanks to this funding commitment.

Physical Disability Council of New South Wales Executive Officer and NSW Disability Advocacy Alliance campaign spokesperson, Serena Ovens said.

“People with disability have been rightly very worried about the potential loss of our voice in the NSW community.

We’ve had rallies, we’ve been visiting MPs, people have been writing postcards to the Premier – the response from the people with disability and the community broadly has been overwhelming.”